Parents These Days

I can’t help but cringe when I hear someone comment about kids these days. The fact is that kids haven’t changed at all. Parents have changed. Kids only know what we teach them. Sadly, parents today think that their household should be a democracy. I’m sorry, when my kids were little I really didn’t care what their opinion was about what was best for them. That wasn’t their job. They needed to learn that life isn’t always pleasant, and they would have to deal with it.

Today I was at Home Depot and witnessed the best meltdown from a 4 year-old that I have ever seen. The one and only time my son threw a tantrum at a store wasn’t as impressive because I just stood next to him and asked him if he was done. Seeing that he wasn’t fazing me a bit, he said yes, got up and that was that. Clearly the little girl today was very good at it. She obviously didn’t want to be there as I could tell by her constant screaming. After about 10 minutes of absolute mayhem that echoed throughout the warehouse, her mom snatched her up and quickly walked out of the store telling her that if she couldn’t behave they were leaving. I swear over her mom’s shoulder I saw her smile. Well duh, what kid wants to be at Home Depot? I didn’t even want to be there and I was just returning something. Bravo little monster, Bravo! I’m sure this wasn’t her first performance and I wondered if it would work if I tried that the next time my husband dragged me there.

I can’t help but wonder what the kids of today will be like in 10-15 years. Can you imagine grown adults acting like that? I can just see going to the dental office with a throbbing toothache and the dentist throwing a tantrum and refusing to work. Crossing his arms and stomping one foot yelling that he wanted to go home. Can you imagine? “I’m sorry, we won’t be able to see you today, the dentist is in time out and is going down for a nap. Perhaps we can reschedule when he feels like it?” But wait, my tooth!

Let’s get a grip parents, there is no one to blame for misbehaved kids but us. Like Mr. Bill and Gumby, kids are what we shape them into. If we aren’t careful, we will be raising a generation of spoiled brats that won’t be able to function in society and will undoubtedly be living under our roofs forever.